Community Development Principles

Communities Can help us be more effective citizens Important to our personal wellbeing Source of creative ideas and solutions Impact the environment They are dynamic- change and grow Threatened by external forces Can be resilient- people come together in new ways, undertake new activities and create new, more diverse communities

People in communities You belong to many different communities! What are some communities you belong to? What do you have in common with others in the community? Tremendous strengths can be found in communities. But communities need to something in the background- a person or organization- to help get things started, or to whom people can turn to for advice or support, or to build up the right skills

Once people are working together it can help them to: Take action to address inequalities in power and participation Deal directly with issues they think are important Change the relationships between communities and public or private organizations Help public organizations to work in more open and inclusive ways Promote increased local democracy, participation, and involvement in public affairs

Empowerment Increasing the ability of individuals and groups to influence issues that affect them and their communities Help individuals gain knowledge, skills, and confidence to act collectively An example might be adults who were athletes in high school who were raised by single parents creating a mentoring program for young athletes who are being raised by single parents. This in turn, helps and encourages the students to become leaders on their teams and in their communities.

Participation Supporting people to take part in decision making Developing active citizenship

Inclusion, Equality of Opportunity, and Anti-Discrimination Recognizing that some people may need additional support to overcome barriers they face Take action to address inequalities and issues that affect lives Can you think of some barriers that people may face? Some examples of barriers may be—family make up (single parent, blended, foster, adoptive), poverty, homelessness, hunger, joblessness, etc.

Self Determination Supporting the right of people to make their own choices Supporting personal development across all age groups and building community capacity An example is people who participate in the SNAP program have the right to make their own decisions on what type of food they use the funds to purchase. This supports their right to make their own choices.

Partnership Recognizing that many agencies can contribute to community development Building community relationships by : Identifying mutual stakeholders Identifying shared goals and values Plan for collaborating Sponsorships and partnerships Partnership Activity For Partnership Activity: Project a list of various stakeholders (children, teachers, parents, future teachers, future employers) with the goal of increasing Childhood Literacy (or teacher may choose any goal—examples—decreasing childhood obesity, increasing mentors for at risk students). Have students form a circle. Hand one person a ball of yarn that they then throw across the circle. The person who catches the yarn has to say how that individual or group can help with that goal. By then end, you have a web of yarn. Teacher can they throw a beach ball on the web helping to draw conclusions about a network of partners and how they can achieve a goal much fast than and individual or one group.

Goals of Community Development Programs Wealthier and fairer communities Smarter communities Healthier communities Safer and stronger communities Greener communities Discussion prompts Is our community fair? Is our community healthy? Is our community safe?

What does Community Development look like? Ohio Community Development – If We Can, So Can You Teacher should show the youtube video to give an example of what community development principles look like. These are some programs in Ohio. https://youtu.be/sNsnKS5U7yw

Local Community Development Programs Can you think of any Community Development Programs in our community? Teacher will need to identify some local programs that you can share with your students. This will help them with the Anatomy of a Community Development Program Worksheet. Examples may be a food bank, soup kitchen, pregnancy care center, career development center, homeless shelter, battered women’s shelter, before and after school programs with tutoring, snacks, safe place for children to go, Boys & Girls Club, YMCA programs, etc.